Night Fall by Nancy Mehl - Review

Nancy Mehl released Book 1 in her new Quantico Files series today. What’s Night Fall all about?

Now that Alexandra “Alex” Donovan is finally free of her troubled upbringing, she’s able to live out her childhood dream of working for the FBI. But soon after she becomes a member of the FBI’s elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, authorities in Kansas and Missouri contact them about bodies found on freight trains traveling across the country–all killed in the same way.

Alex never expected to be forced to confront her past in this new job, but she immediately recognizes the graffiti messages the killer is leaving on the train cars. When the BAU sends her to gather information about the messages from her aunt in Wichita, Kansas, Alex is haunted by the struggles she thought she’d left behind forever.

In a race against time to solve the case while battling her own weaknesses, Alex must face how far she’ll go–and what she’s willing to risk–to put a stop to the Train Killer.

Nancy Mehl’s books get better with each one that she writes – and that’s definitely true for Night Fall! The first book in her new Quantico Files series, this story will keep you on the edge of your seat. Her bad guy sets the stakes impossibly high, and FBI Agent Alex Donovan is challenged in every way to catch him.

I like the way that Mehl created tension throughout the story. It’s there in every way, just like the conflict that Alex faces. There’s romantic tension between agents, of course, and family tension in relationships gone awry, but there’s also spiritual tension between different characters and ultimately created by the plot through the cult and its members. This provides the perfect opportunity for Mehl and her faith-filled characters to share the basic tenets of Christianity in a natural way without the preachiness that this often involves. With psychopaths and cult members, this is not your old-school Christian book but one that’s filled with heart-stopping action and realistic edginess that will make for a fast-paced read for anyone who enjoys suspense books.

Alex is an engaging lead character. I love how she’s strong and has worked hard to overcome the difficulty of her childhood but is also willing to consider new ideas when evidence is presented to her. Her determination is admirable and part of what makes her the best kind of lead: she’s truly a heroine and plays the part well.

Mehl threw some crazy twists and turns in this story, and I can’t say that I couldn’t see a few of them coming; but I didn’t predict them all, and I love when an author can surprise me with plot twists. These definitely kept me turning pages faster and faster as I tried to figure it all out – and that’s one of those things that I love most about this genre.

Read my full review of Nancy Mehl’s new book Night Fall.

The plot in Night Fall involves a potential global pandemic, and releasing on the heels of Covid-19, I was a bit hesitant about that. Mehl handled it incredibly well, though, acknowledging the trauma of that event while writing in a return to normalcy that felt great to read about. I enjoy the way that she created that part of the storyline, but if the pandemic was especially traumatic for you, take care.

All in all, though, Night Fall is a fantastic story that I’ve already recommended to several other readers. It’s edgy enough to be an escape but real enough to be exciting. You won’t be able to put it down – and I’m already writing November of 2021 on my calendar so I can read the sequel as soon as it releases.